Achilles Tendonitis....

So I am 95% positive I have gotten a mild case of this.

My symptoms are the typical: No pain under activity, only under rest post-activity, worse under long periods of rest after riding. A drastic change in my workout regime is when it occurred(riding multi days a week, etc.). The positive is the pain only lasts a day or two past activity. Meaning if I wakeboard on sunday I am not feeling any pain by tues-wed when I wakeup and walk to the bathroom.

My questions are: Anyone had this? How long was the re-hab process for a mild case? Can I push this injury? (If I am only in pain off the water, can I man up and still ride?) What are the possible repercussions of riding through the pain? I heard from a friend that if I continue to ride on it I can get "Tendonosis" which is permanent damage to the achilles; is this correct?

The main reason I am inquiring about pushing it this early in the season is that I am going to Orlando for a week of riding. Is there anything I can do to speed up the healing process? I am using the typical RICE application plus vitamin C and Arnicane.

Thanks.

is your friend a doctor? if you're seriously concerned, please go see a doctor and take his advice. most of the people on this forum aren't licensed give you medical advice.

I self diagnosed myself with achilles tendonitis from running. One article I read broke it down into 4 grades based on the level of pain and when the pain occurs. Yours sounds like a 1 or 2. The recommended rest was equal to the grade in weeks. Example....grade 2 means 2 weeks rest from the activity causing the pain. Mine seemed like a four and it took about five weeks before I had zero discomfort. I have not ran since (six weeks plus) and I did not wakeboard for the first 4 weeks but that was only coincidence. No problem wakeboarding in the last two weeks but again I have not tried to run. Recently, my achilles feels like there is fluid in the area but this is only randomly and does not come with any pain. My wife found this article a few days ago, I have not tried it. I hope this helps.

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/achilles-tendonitis.html

Joe, (I appreciate your concern and suggestion for seeing a doc): my buddy is not a doctor just a physical fitness buff. The main reason I am not seeing a doc is that the pain is not that severe (grade 2, maybe even grade 1) (thus I can still wakeboard, walk without a limp, etc.), everything I have read about Achilles tendinitis points to what I am feeling, and a trip to the doctor would likely result in at least several hundred dollars out of pocket. Which at this point the discomfort does not warrant the cost, and I understand the possibility that I may get to a point where I should see a doctor.

To be honest, I would not even be asking this question if I was not taking this trip to Orlando as I have gotten plenty of information through research about how to treat it. I guess I am looking for others who have dealt with this and their experiences, what worked, didn't, if they pushed through the pain, what their personal repercussions were as a result, etc.

Edit: Thanks for the info dex, thats an interesting article.

(Message edited by liquidmx on April 24, 2008)

Matt,

I get the same thing from my Ski boots, gets better later in the season. Anyway I have done nothing to it other than a couple days rest. Some advil and CL and you should be good, however I am no doctor!